FOOTBALL: Housatonic still learning in loss to Canton

Published 12:00 am, Sunday, September 30, 2012

FALLS VILLAGE -- In a matchup of two teams headed in the opposite direction, the Canton High School football squad gave Housatonic/Wamogo another lesson.

Using a balanced offense and a stingy defense, Canton rolled to its second straight win, 40-0, under the lights Saturday night in Falls Village.

After snapping a 13-game losing skid last week, the Warriors improve to 2-1 with the win while the Mountaineers fall to 0-3.

Last season Housy started the season 4-0 and was one of the surprise teams in the area. But heavy losses to graduation and a young and inexperienced roster have led to a slow start to the 2012 campaign.

"Our goal this year is to learn. We are doing a lot of teaching and kids are learning their roles, learning to play football," Housatonic coach Deron Bayer said. "We want to learn on every play."

What the Mountaineers learned on Saturday is that they still have room for improvement while the Warriors are making strides in a positive direction.

Canton went 0-10 last season but in came new head coach Paul Philippon and a new staff. The Warriors opened the season with a hardfought loss to Ellington/Somers and then they knocked off Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby, 8-0, last week for their first win since late in the 2010 season.

The Warriors looked to build on that win Saturday and led 7-0 after the first quarter before putting the game away in the second.

Canton scored three touchdowns in the second quarter, including a scoring strike from quarterback Eric Scott to Jake Wood to take a 27-0 lead at the half.

"I liked how hard we played and our whole focus is just trying to get better," Philippon said. "We wanted to come out and execute on both sides of the ball and the kids adjusted to their offense well and did a good job."

If Housy had any thoughts of a comeback they were ended in the third quarter as the Warriors put up another two touchdowns to take a 40-0 lead. Kyle Mullins capped the scoring with a 65-yard touchdown run to finish a 102-yard, two touchdown performance.

Housatonic fought til the end, but about the only drama in this one in the second hald was whether or not Canton would post its second straight shutout. It did and now the Mountaineers will go back to the drawing board as they prepare for Granby after a bye week.

If not the drawing board, the film room and classroom as Bayer has found this season to be more about instruction and learning than anything.

"The kids call you coach and the two greatest things you can be called as a man are dad and coach, but it should really be called teacher," Bayer said. "We are teaching the game. We look at this as a classroom. Football is a hard teacher and the lessons will be tough but important lessons always are. Football is not going to take it easy on you, you're going to get knocked down again and again but you have to get up."

The Mountaineers did show that resiliency on Saturday and never quit. Senior captains Mark Wildman and Matt McElhone played well and junior back Jeremy Steiwing rushed for 117 yards.

"I am proud of the kids, we challenged them and asked them to go out in the second half and be more physical and they were," Bayer said. "We have some young kids out there and we have to execute better. We were a block or two away a few times from breaking one. On defense we put a kid in right place but they have to make a play."

Canton made more plays in this one and won the game, but you can bet Housatonic will be studying how to make more plays the next time it takes the field after learning another hard lesson Saturday.